Related Stories

President Trump, in an extensive interview with Fox Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo, accused Democrats embracing ideas like court-packing and the Green New Deal of becoming “radicalized” – while voicing confidence as he sized up the ever-expanding field of potential 2020 opponents.

The president mocked the Democratic contenders for “saying a lot of weird things,” calling the Green New Deal “the most preposterous thing” and blasting Beto O’Rourke’s idea of taking down sections of border wall.

But asked which candidate in the massive field he’d truly like to run against in 2020, Trump threw out a few names:

“I mean, I’d love to have [Joe] Biden. I’d love to have Bernie [Sanders], I’d love to have Beto,” he said, adding: “I mean, Beto seems to be the one the press has chosen. The press seems to have chosen Beto. … When I watch Beto, I say we could dream about that.”

The comments amount to an early read from the president on which candidates he’d delight in tarring on the campaign trail, with the field growing every week and increasingly running to the left on issues ranging from immigration to taxes.

In the same interview, Trump alleged “the Democrats actually are becoming a far left party, I mean, they’re becoming a radical party. You look at what they want to do with the Supreme Court. You look at what they want to do with the voting age. Where did that come all of the sudden? The voting age at 16 – they’re becoming radical. They are radicalized.”